Photo Thoughts

DIRECTIONS:

1. You are to find and select a photograph dating from the period 1919-1939. It should be an American scene with at least one "recognizable" individual in the frame—as in a person whose face can be clearly seen. Copy & save that photo—you will be printing it. (Save "address" of photo) REQUIRED
2. You are to write an "interior monologue/dialogue in which you imagine what the individual(s) in the photo is(are) thinking/saying at that moment. USE YOUR IMAGINATION and anything you have read to help you create the words of your monologue/dialogue. REQUIRED
3. Can you find a quotation that in some way connects with this image? Find one, copy it, and paste it in with the image and document. Include the source/site from which it is taken. OPTIONAL

DUE: WEDNESDAY 3/24/10

Macbeth Motif Presentation

Motif paper is being changed to a class presentation, to be presented Tuesday and Thursday, March 23 and 25)

Motif presentation requirements:

1. 5 minutes
2. strong opening and closing (i.e., Shakespeare’s purpose)
3. minimum of three quotations from throughout the play (not just one scene)
4. analysis of the quotes
5. relevant connection to other motifs, themes, etc.
6. a creative component (anything that makes the motif come alive)
7. written notes to accompany presentation to be turned in day of presentation

Macbeth Explication

You will be writing an in-depth explication of one of the following passages as an in-class writing assignment. The first thing you must do is consider Shakespeare’s purpose in writing this passage; consider such things as

• what the passage reveals about the speaker, or other characters
• how the passage relates to the play’s mood and/or setting 
• how the speech reflects any of the play’s motifs or themes 
• how the passage relates to the concepts of the Chain of Being and Divine Right 
• how the passage moves the action forward

Once you have decided on the purpose of the passage, you can then ponder how Shakespeare accomplishes it. For this, you want to consider dramatic and poetic devices, such as

• diction (word choice, sense imagery, puns) and syntax (word order)
• dramatic irony, foreshadowing, soliloquy or aside
• setting and pathetic fallacy
• allusion
• metaphors, similes, personification, oxymorons, understatement, hyperbole, paradox

It is imperative that you not just state the use of the suggestions above, but that you frame your essay around your overriding thesis, Shakespeare’s purpose in the passage. In other words, your paper is looking at how the dramatic/poetic devices convey the purpose of the passage.
Your essay must contain quotations from the entire passage, not just one section. Remember to identify the passage at the beginning of your essay; then you can cite merely line numbers.

Passages from which to choose:

• I. iii. 128-143
• I. v. 15-30
• I. v. 38-58
• I. vii. 1-28
• II. i. 34-65
• III. i. 49-73

Due in printed form at the end of class Friday. Period 4: give to Mazelle; Period 6, give to Chris.

Macbeth Motif Paper

You are to write a paper tracing Shakespeare’s use of one motif (a minor recurrent theme or pattern of imagery)) in relation to the play’s characters, themes and structure. Your essay will not be due until after the completion of the play but, as soon as you can, select your motif from those below and inform me. Then you can begin focusing on your motif as we read the play. The essay should follow the basic format (introduction, body, conclusion), and it should be approximately two to three pages. Remember to use proper verse quotation format (see website) and to cite the play as follows: I. iii, 3-5 (not Act 1, Scene 3, lines 3-5).

Motifs

• Feasting/drinking
• Water/cleansing
• Disease/madness
• Salvation/redemption
• Manhood/womanhood
• Dissembling/equivocation
• Animals/beasts
• Fear/bravery
• Clothing
• Taunting
• Young/old
• Innocence/corruption
• Nurturing
• Gold/golden
• Reversal
• Paralysis/Action
• Appearances
• Planting/growth
• Incantations
• Dark/light
• Good/evil
• Blood
• Stars/heavens
• Sleep
• War
• Serpents
• Birds
• Disorder
• Family
• Disloyalty/betrayal
• Temptation
• Kingship
• Fortune
• Murder
• Honor
• Hospitality
• Fire
• Vacillation
• Ambition
• Devils/angels
• Hands/eyes
• Heaven/hell
• Sight/blindness

UPDATE: The Motif Paper has been changed to a Motif Presentation, to be presented on March 23 and 25.